Some folks on the list have argued that since Orlanti women are already powerful we do not need to provide them more support through customs and institutions. This IMHO is the wrong approach to a chicken-and-egg problem. Those with power will seek to institutionalize it, which in turn provides more power in the long run. Power which is not institutionalized will not last more than a generation. Since we know the women are influential we need to make sure that they have a customary power base.
Women do have one documented institutional advantage: female-only earth cults. This is important, but IMHO not quite enough.
My solution: Cows.
Clan membership and ownership/use-rights to farmland and steads are reckoned along the male line of descent, while cattle ownership and rights are reckoned along the female line. This explains those dowry/brideprice combos in KoDP.
Cattle are odal property, but perhaps most clans delegate herd management to the Uralda temple, putting women in charge of the nitty-gritty details of all those cattle loans ...
Pete McAveney
Utinam barbari spatium proprium tuum invadant!
End of The Glorantha Digest V8 #2
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